Control Publisher Learned From Cross-Buy Backlash, Future Games Will Use Smart Delivery

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, publisher 505 Games acknowledged the controversy around the upgrade path for Control Ultimate Edition on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

When Control Ultimate Edition was first announced last year, it was revealed that those who had bought the original Control back in 2019 for PS4 and Xbox One would not be able to upgrade that copy of the game to the Ultimate Edition. The only way to be eligible for the new-generation versions of the game was to purchase Control again via its Ultimate Edition on PS4 and Xbox One.

Despite initiatives like Microsoft’s Smart Delivery, that allowed players to receive both Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of a game when purchased on the platform’s ecosystem, 505 Games president Neil Ralley said that it was something that the industry had never faced before.

“For Control, we made certain decisions restricted how we could perform Smart Delivery for the next-gen version of Control,” explained Ralley. “They were the correct decisions at the time, but they created those blockers. We were unable to backtrack and reorganize how we were developing the Ultimate Edition for there to be a sensible and fair way to do Smart Delivery.”

Ralley also noted that 505 Games learned a lesson from that situation, and that it had not handled communicating to the audience in the best way. However, going forward, they want to avoid something like that again. He cites Ghostrunner and Assetto Corsa Competizione as examples. When they release, those who bought the PS4 and Xbox One versions will be able to upgrade to the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S ones for free.

Control has crossed 10 million players, and developer Remedy has confirmed that it has at least six games in development right now, including a multiplayer spin-off of Control codenamed Project Condor.